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Woodstock & Region

Landfill environmental assessment studies commencing

Walker Environmental Group's Southwest Landfill proposal has entered the study phase of the environmental assessment process.
Thirteen studies will be conducted, including studies on surface and ground water, air and noise, archeological, agricultural, ecological, traffic, social and economic, cultural and visual impacts and others.
“Some (of the studies) are (for) four seasons, so this study phase will take 12 months or more,” said Darren Fry, Walker's project director for the Southwest Landfill.

“We have to capture (data from) all four seasons.”

Fry said information from some of the studies will be used to complete others.

“Some (studies) won't commence until some preliminary results have been obtained from prior studies,” Fry said. “The outcome of those (first) studies will feed into the back end of our process (on others).”

He said the study phase is expected to wrap up in the fall of 2018.

“There won't be a lot of new developments over the next year or so, but we'll be providing regular updates,” said Fry.

Once the studies are complete, the environmental assessment report will allow for the design of the landfill to be finalized.

From there Walker will consult with the community on its draft environmental assessment.

“There will be a period where the public can review the documents and of course we'll be having public events,” Fry said.

He said Walker is looking to submit its final environmental assessment report to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change in early 2019.

Fry said Walker posts regular updates on the status of the proposal on the internet at www.walkerea.com and there is a subscription function to be notified whenever an update is posted to the site.

“Any time there's an update or a notification, they can receive an e-mail to ensure they're kept informed,” Fry said.

He said anyone with questions can also visit Walker's office on Carnegie Street in Ingersoll, which is open five days a week.

“They're welcome to stop by,” Fry said.

In a report to Ingersoll council in August, Ingersoll CAO William Tigert wrote: “Landfill staff and the landfill steering committee continue to meet and discuss strategies with the town's lawyers and consultants on methods to challenge the process and ultimately quash the application for the Walker Environmental Group mega project. In closed session following the meeting, council will hear from its lawyer on the matter and receive legal advice on different avenues that council may wish to pursue in its fight against the landfill.”